Mike Sonneborn calls Aaron Batten a "track kid." He runs better than a 4.5-second 40-yard dash and posted a time of 11.11 seconds in the 100-meter dash in 2012 as a member of the Dade Christian track team.

On the football field, he's a hybrid defensive end/tight end whose speed frustrates and whose size poses matchup problems.

Batten, rated as high as a three-star prospect by one recruiting website, announced his commitment to Syracuse on Wednesday after a convincing official visit over the weekend. And Sonneborn, his football coach, said Batten could combine with Tyler Provo, the other tight end in SU's recruiting class, to copy techniques and schemes used by Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots.

"When Coach McDonald came on at Syracuse, he was familiar with Aaron from his days with Miami," Sonneborn said. "Even though Miami was kind of recruiting that different style of tight end, really more of an in-line blocking tight end, he was intriguing because he is a big, tall kid that can run fast. When he got the job at Syracuse, (he said) they are going to be going in a different direction with multiple tight ends. Kind of along the line with what the Patriots have done."

Batten was sold.

Sonneborn said much of the conversation during Batten's official visit talked about utilizing a pair of tight ends on the field at the same time to create matchup problems for opposing defenses. It was a concept Syracuse used at times during the 2012 season with Beckett Wales and David Stevens, and clearly something McDonald and new head coach Scott Shafer hope to continue.

"With him and Provo they (got) two guys that are not what you would call really big guys, but they are good-sized guys that are athletic and guys that can run," Sonneborn said.

Batten, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs roughly 225 pounds, will need to gain weight in order to become a proficient blocker at the Division I level, but he has experience in a run-first offense. Sonneborn said Dade Christian ran for well over 2,000 yards in each of the past two seasons, and Batten was utilized primarily as a blocker.

His speed, though, allows him to line up in either a three-point stance at the edge of the line or be split out wide like a receiver. From there he can really move downfield, often times faster than defenders anticipate.

"People think of tight ends and they start thinking about big guys that catch 3- and 4-yard pass routes and stuff like that," Sonneborn said. "But now you’re starting to see the more athletic tight ends in the game, and they’re starting to cause some problems. That’s one thing he is able to bring to the table. He’s able to really get downfield."

Early in Doug Marrone's career, the coaching staff used Aaron Weaver, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound wide receiver/tight end hybrid, in a similar fashion. Weaver suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first month of the 2010 season, but he averaged over 40 yards receiving to that point by using a combination of size and speed that presented problems.

Like Weaver, Batten's speed gives him an advantage when covered by a linebacker, and his size is difficult for a defensive back to handle.

Sonneborn said Syracuse began to show interest in Batten last spring, when Marrone was still the head coach. Conversations continued during the summer, but nothing ever materialized until McDonald was named the offensive coordinator.

Batten had already taken a handful of official visits before making the trip to Syracuse in January — he had previously committed to Kent State and had other scholarship offers from Minnesota, Kentucky and Connecticut, among others — and it didn't take him long to decide SU was the right fit.

He texted Sonneborn that he thought Syracuse was the place, and his coach wrote back all he needed to hear.

"I said 'Go ahead and tell them yes,'" Sonneborn said. "And that's pretty much how it went."